Cookie Swap

One tradition that we have in my family is to always try to get together and make Holiday goodies.  This year my mom has decided she would like to throw a cookie swap party.  A cookie swap is a fun way to help you cut down on the amount of baking that you need to do and socialize at the same time.  Martha Stewart has some great tips you should check out!

The way a cookie swap works is that you coordinate with a group of friends and family and share the cookies that you bake ahead of time. Everyone bakes two or three varieties of their favorite cookie or holiday treat. Then you get together and swap the treats. It's that easy and you end up with a multitude of cookies to bring to your holiday events. To plan a cookie swap, you need to decide whom to invite, when and where to have the cookie swap and how many cookies everyone needs to bring.  The number of people to invite to the cookie swap depends upon how many varieties of cookies you want to end up with when the party is over.  Ask family and friends that you know who like to bake if they want to participate. Once you explain the concept to them and they realize how much baking it will save them, they will probably be eager to participate.  If you are organizing the cookie swap, you will probably plan to be the host. If you and the other cookie swappers decide to make this an annual event, you may want to take turns being the host each year. As the host, you want to make sure that you have a dining room table or a table big enough to hold the plates of cookies that your guests will be bringing. Since it is a party and the guests will be planning on taking the cookies home, you'll want to serve some refreshments. The guests will want to sample the cookies, so you probably shouldn't plan on anything too sweet.  A light meal or some kind of soup would probably be most appropriate.  You can search for recipes at http://allrecipes.com.  You might also want to tell your guests to bring copies of the recipes for the cookies they made. Then, along with the cookies, your guests can swap their recipes. If you are super organized, you can ask the guests to send you a copy of the recipes in advance and you can make them into recipe books for everyone to take home. Another idea for a take home gift for your guests is to give each guest a tin to put their cookies in.  

I hope this helps relieve some of the stress that comes along with the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season!!  Have fun!  Merry Baking!

Joplin Give & Take

Chances are by now, you've at least heard of the new trend on Facebook offering an alternative to garage sales.  It is called Joplin Give & Take.  I found out about it through some friends and found it to be very helpful.  After being on the site for a while I was asked to be an administrator by the creator.  So, first I will explain to you what Joplin Give and Take is in case you haven't heard of it yet.  It is a closed group which requires approval by an administrator to join and participate.  Once you're approved, you can buy, sell and trade items which you would normally put in a garage sale, but only after reading the rules!!  It is similar to Craigslist, but I find it to be more convenient because you can post and follow all of your items in one album and are notified through Facebook when someone comments on one of your pictures, showing interest.  It is better than a garage sale because you can shop from the comfort of your home and meet up for exchange whenever it's convenient for you.   The site is split up into two separate groups.  The adult site is intended for miscellaneous household items, men's and women's clothing, cars, and anything else that isn't for children.  The other site is Joplin Give & Take Children's Edition.  On the children's edition you can post children's clothing, toys, maternity wear, children's furniture, and other child related items.  I have found it to be very helpful in selling my son's clothing that he has outgrown.  It really helps bring in a little extra income every once in a while.  As far as administrative duties, I agreed to do it over the summer because I wasn't working or going to school.  It really was a lot more work than I anticipated and of course it doesn't pay anything.  I was told I could just help by watching the posts and making sure people were following the rules, deleting old photos and photos of items that have already sold.  Well, it turned more into a babysitting gig.  People were always fighting over items, claiming it should go to them, sending private messages asking what they should do because "this person wants it for more than this person", etc.  It got old quick!  Before too long we had to take on 4 more administrators just to keep things under control!  The site has grown to have over 12,000 members just on the adult site.  They were recently featured on the local news.  If you'd like a closer look at things you can check out the story on Four States Homepage!

Christmas Entertainment

With Christmas just around the corner, I decided to put together a list of Christmas movies.  If you have Netflix I'm sure you've seen plenty of holiday flicks to choose from.  I think most of them look pretty cheesy actually, but I decided to give one a shot last weekend.  I'm not going to say I wasn't disappointed either.  It was pretty lame.  So while there are plenty of those corny Lifetime type Christmas movies out there, I'm going to focus on the greats!  The first one that comes to mind is Home Alone.  See a clip here!I believe there are three of them in the series, but the first one is the best!  That along with Tim Allen's The Santa Clause trilogy are among my personal favorites.   Some others that are popular, but not necessarily high on my list include National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation featuring Chevy Chase, A Christmas Story, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.  I'm actually a bit confused on whether or not The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie.  I should probably watch it before I go judging it.  Some of my family's favorites are Disney's A Christmas Carol and The Polar Express.  They are both excellent movies and I enjoy watching them with my family every year.  There are some Christmas movies geared toward only adults as well.  I haven't seen very many of them, but check out this blog for a more detailed description.  I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan, but his movie Elf seems to be very popular among my age group.  Of course we can't forget the classics!  Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life are always two that I can remember watching with my mom and grandparents.  The Christmas entertainment isn't only limited to movies though.  There are plenty of short cartoons which are traditionally aired on the major television networks each year.  Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and a newer tradition I've noticed is Arthur Christmas.  My 10 year old son finds the older traditional shows boring, but watches with me anyway.  It just wouldn't feel the same without those old classics.

T-Shirt Quilt How-to

Do you have an abundance of old t-shirts laying around?  I know we do in my house.  They all seem to have some kind of connection to past memories; maybe of a vacation, an old school, a marathon you participated in.  If you're like me, you find it hard to just throw them out and end up having a bunch of old shirts that don't get worn and just take up space.  Well, I have found the perfect solution.  I am currently working on my first t-shirt quilt.  After researching online, I found plenty of sites instructing you how to make your own quilt.  You can find a pattern here.  First, you will need to make a list of the supplies you'll need and get to shopping!  Here is a list of what you'll need, which can be found at your local Walmart or Hobby Lobby stores.

1. Fusible interfacing- Each shirt must be backed with non-woven fusible interfacing to prevent it from stretching. Buy enough fusible interfacing to make a 17" square for each T-shirt. Select good quality, light weight interfacing. Fusible interfacing needs to be non-woven, glued only on one side. Featherweight fusible interfacing works best for t-shirt quilts. It doesn't add weight and doesn't make the quilt stiff.  Either Bosal 312 or Pellon 906F are good choices.
2. Fabric-Fabric for Sashing/Border/Binding.  Sashing strips form a decorative grid between each T-shirt block. Plan on 2" sashing strips (1 1/2" when finished) between the blocks, 2 1/2" strips (2" when finished) for the border, and additional fabric for the binding. Calculate the amount needed and be sure to wash it before you use it - you want to be sure that the color won’t run and that the fabric will not shrink after the quilt is finished.
3. Fabric scissors-For cutting the shirts and fabric. 

Once you have all of your supplies, you'll need to start cutting your t-shirts and getting them ready.  Separate the front of the shirt from the back. Make sure the shirt is smooth, iron it if necessary. You want your shirt size to be larger than 15 inches square, ideally larger than 17 inches to fit the interfacing.  After you apply the interfacing you will cut the shirt square to the desired size.  Next, you'll need to apply the interfacing.  Cut interfacing into 17" squares, one for each shirt. Don’t piece the interfacing, it will show through. Position the interfacing with the resin side down on the wrong side of the t-shirt, trying to center the design as much as possible. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for fusing to the back of each T-shirt. Use a press cloth so you don’t get any glue on your iron.  Beware of wrinkles - once cool they won’t come out!  Now that your interfacing is applied you will need to cut your squares to the desired size.  Make sure you center the design and lettering, remember measure twice, cut once! Cut with scissors or rotary cutter.  Once all of your shirts are cut into squares you will need to lay them out on the floor and arrange them as you will sew them.  Alternate light/dark, busy/not so busy. Make sure the blocks can be read from the desired direction.  Now you;ll need to complete the quilt top and add sashing.  Sashing strips are the horizontal and vertical strips between blocks. The horizontal strips should measure 15" in length (for a 15" square) x 2" wide. Cut enough sashing strips to add to all the t-shirts except the bottom row. Then sew horizontal strips to the bottom of each block, except the blocks in the bottom row. Sew blocks together to form columns.After all the blocks are sewn into columns, make long 2" sashing strips slightly longer than length of each column. Sew the 2" sashing strips onto the inside edge of the completed columns, one strip to each column (don't sew a sashing strip to the outside edges of the columns) and sew the columns together.  Cut off excess fabric.  Press toward sashing.  Cut border strips 2 1/2" wide and add as desired. If you need to do a final pressing, make sure you put a cloth over the shirts as the designs may smear if the iron is placed directly onto them.  Finally, finish by layering backing batting and quilt top. Baste or safety pin together. If you have some experience machine quilting you can quilt your quilt or you can tie it to hold the layers together. Bind your quilt and be sure to add a label.  Your finished product should look something like this.  

Black...Thursday?

How many of you braved the crowds and decided to do some Black Friday shopping?  My mom and I have gone almost every year.  Things have been different the past couple years though.  Black Friday is turning into Thursday.  Stores typically open in the wee hours of the morning on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday. But Black Friday openings have crept earlier and earlier over the past few years. Now, stores from Walmart to Toys R Us are opening their doors on Thanksgiving evening, hoping Americans will be willing to shop soon after they finish their pumpkin pie.  Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had early bird shopping specials at 8 p.m., two hours earlier than last year. Target opened its doors at 9 p.m. on the holiday, three hours earlier than last year. Sears, which didn't open on Thanksgiving last year, opened from 8 p.m. and stayed open until 10 p.m. on Black Friday. And Toys R Us will opened at 8 p.m., an hour earlier than last year.  I actually like it being on Thursday a lot better.  I'm not a morning person and getting up at 4 a.m. in previous years was not fun!  With it being on Thursday, I'm way more excited about getting out and dealing with the enormous crowds.  Walmart is always our first stop.  Every year I get the local newpaper on Thursday and after dinner my mom and I scour through the pages and plan our shopping trip.  So, just like every year I was anxious to see what Walmart's Black Friday ad contained.  I decided I was going to go for the PS3 they were offering for $199 as a Christmas present for my son.  I ended up being third in line and got one of the 16 systems they had to offer.  I was elated!  We decided to stick around and try for an iPad at the 10:00 event and we were able to get that too!  I was even able to find some $10 PS3 games in a bin after I got my big items.  It was a very successful trip this year.  Actually, we always have really good luck getting what we want at Walmart on Black Friday..errr, Thursday, I guess.   

How early is too early?!

Christmas in October?!

I've been hearing a lot of people complaining about businesses playing holiday music and putting out Christmas merchandise too early.  There are Facebook pages dedicated to stopping stores from playing the holiday tunes prior to Thanksgiving.   Stop Annoying Christmas Music's Facebook page   have mixed feelings about this because I LOVE fall and enjoy having my pumpkins, mums, and scarecrows out for decoration.  I also love Christmas though.  Putting up the tree is a lot of work so I'd like to enjoy it as long as I can.  I usually can't contain myself and wait until Thanksgiving to put my tree up.  In fact, my son really wants to put it up this weekend and I'm seriously considering letting him have his way.  I guess I don't have a problem with bringing on the holiday spirit prior to Thanksgiving, but for me, prior to Halloween is just entirely too early!  I definitely noticed Christmas decorations in the windows of Pier One the week before Halloween and a few days before when I was buying Halloween candy to hand out to trick or treaters, the candy aisle was split with both Halloween and Christmas candy!  I'm a big fan of Halloween and feel like we should get through the scary, creepy stuff before we bring on the glittery, frosty stuff!  Some consumers are so seriously disturbed by this early celebrating that they are refusing to shop at stores who choose to infect their ears with jingle bells and hohoho's.  Read more about angry shoppers HERE!  Another controversial issues amongst holiday shoppers is that of Black Friday.  Last year, Wal-Mart started their Black Friday sale on Thursday night!  I admit, I participated in this. I've always gone Black Friday shopping with my mom.  It usually consists of going out around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and staying out until around noon.  I actually liked getting an early start last year.  We got in and out, went to bed my midnight then got up at a decent hour to do more shopping the next day.  Earlier this week Wal-Mart put out their Black Friday ad for this year.  Wal-Mart's Black Friday ad!  I notice they are doing the sale in 3 "events".  The first starting at 8 PM on Thanksgiving night, the 2nd event is at 10 PM, and the 3rd at 5 AM.  I don't like that they are breaking it up into 3 separate events.  I will probably not stick around for the 3rd event, but I do plan to check out the 8 & 10 PM sales!  

Do You Believe?!

Do You Believe?!

October is my favorite month of the year!  For one, I love the weather that comes along with the fall months.  I love the scents, the colors, the food, I love it all!  With October comes Halloween and with Halloween comes the talk of spirits, ghosts, and ghouls.  While I love Halloween, I don't necessarliy believe in ghosts.  There are many people out there that do believe though.  In fact, as I'm typing this, Long Island Medium is playing on TLC. Long Island Medium  I personally think this show is a hoax.  When it comes to "psychics" and "readings"it is way too easy to pick up on cues from the person, or even do a little research and find out a fact or two to throw out there at the person being read.  In fact, anyone can learn how to do these readings.  Click here to learn how!  More than likely if you are participating in a reading then you are desperate for answers about your loved one who has passed and you will latch on to any little thing they have to say. The term used to describe their strategy is "cold reading".  This is used by mentalists and fraudulent psychics to give the impression that they can actually psychically gain personal information about their client.  The reading is referred to as "cold" because it does not dpend on any prior knwledge or information of the client.  Instead, the "psychic" combines careful observations of the client's characteristics and behavior with a series of guesses that are based on deduction, knowledge of probabilities, and use of general statements that are readily accepted by large numbers of people as being true.  I won't deny that it does take some skill and talent to be able to do this, but even so it is still a hoax.  Check out another blogger's opinion of Long Island Medium here!